There is no such thing as a bad business decision

If you have ever made a choice in business that resulted in significant financial loss, if you’ve had a product or project end in disaster, or if you have had to close a business due to an overall lack of success – you may disagree that there is no such thing as a bad business decision, says business mentor, Simone Milasas.

Although choices may have been made that resulted in a less than desirable outcome, the moment you judge that a choice was bad is the moment you stop yourself from creating something greater.

Judgement kills. It kills creativity. It kills new ideas. It kills possibilities. When you judge a choice as ‘bad’, you begin to doubt your decision-making capabilities, which can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy in which fear and self-doubt lead to more disaster.

The implementation of a few simple tools can turn this all around faster than you might think.

Disrupt the autopilot of fear, doubt and judgement

Once you judge a business decision as bad, your thoughts can quickly run away with you. The best way to disrupt a negative thought pattern is to ask a question. Questions don’t run on autopilot – they require an action.

Ask, “What is right about this that I am not getting? What’s right about me that I am not getting?”

As you keep asking these questions, the conclusions you have made about how bad something is begin to dissipate and now you can see things you didn’t see before.

Awareness is one of your greatest assets in business

When you stop judging your choices, you gain the ability to look at each choice and the awareness you gained from it.

As kids, when we are learning to walk, we fall and we just get up and try again. We learn from each fall. We learn from every scraped knee. What if it could be the same in business?

Each time something does not turn out as you would have liked it, ask, “What do I know now that I did not know before? What awareness did I gain?”

Years ago, I started a business and I was looking for investors. One investor made the comment that he was investing in me, not the company. The company was not successful, and even though investors are agreeing to take a risk and are not guaranteed a return on their investment, that comment tweaked me. I ended up returning the investor’s money to them, 50 cents on the dollar. I gained so much awareness from this experience, and from that time onward, if I received people’s investment, I would highlight for them the risk.

Never quit

My number one business tip for if something doesn’t work out is: Get up, dust your knees off and keep going. Never, ever quit.

Throughout my entrepreneurial career, all of the things that were successful or instantly lucrative were easy to be blasé about. To the contrary, every time there was a hiccup and money was lost or a company shut down, my awareness exponentialised and the knowledge, skills and information I took away have all assisted me with creating something greater, for now and for the future. The key is to never give up, never give in, and never quit.

If you were guaranteed that every business started would succeed, everyone would do it. Obviously, it is not guaranteed and involves risk.

There is no such thing as perfection and none of us hit the target every single time. That’s ok. That does not need to determine your future. Stop judging the choices you have made in the past. Ask questions. Look at the awareness that you have gained from every so-called ‘mistake’ and commit that no matter what, you will keep going.

There is no such thing as a bad business decision when you are willing to have the awareness that it gifts you.

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